ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. 
The locker rooms at The Pit are located at ground level, and a long ramp with red walls and a red ceiling leads to the court 37 feet below.

One of the traditions for the San Diego State basketball team whenever it plays at New Mexico is, after the morning shootaround, trying to bowl basketballs to the top of the ramp.

Like the basketballs, the Aztecs came up short nine hours later.

They trudged up the ramp 70-60 losers to No. 14 New Mexico in a game that shouldn’t damage their NCAA Tournament standing but might relegate them to the dreaded 4-5 game in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament in two weeks (and a potential semifinal matchup with these same Lobos).

It was, however, a “big” loss in one respect.

The Aztecs (20-8, 8-6) shut down 7-foot Alex Kirk and 6-9 Cameron Bairstow, New Mexico’s starting posts, in their epic 55-34 win a month ago at Viejas Arena. They didn’t Wednesday night in The Pit — didn’t come close — and lost their fourth straight on the road.

There also was the matter of the turnover-laced start to the second half and the 4 of 23 performance behind the 3-point arc, including a pair of open looks that would have cut the Lobos’ lead to three with 4 minutes to go. But the big problem, clearly, was the bigs.

Jan. 26: Kirk and Bairstow combined for two points on 1 of 12 shooting and just one free throw (which Kirk missed).

Wednesday: A combined 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting … in the first half. Kirk finished with 25 points and Bairstow with 16 on 13 of 22 shooting. No other New Mexico player had more than 10, and that included Kendall Williams, who followed up his career-high 46 points with eight points on 1 of 6 shooting.

“When you don’t play well against somebody, you want to make up for it. And they did not have good games at San Diego.”

Fisher’s teams are known for double-teaming the low post against bigger opponents, and first-place New Mexico (24-4, 11-2) certainly qualified. But in the first game, instead of running a second defender at Kirk or Bairstow in the low block and risking open 3s, he had them stunt, had them fake the double, then quickly retreat to their perimeter assignment. The result was confusion and hesitation from the Lobos — and their lowest point output in 37 years.

“We wanted to do the same thing,” Fisher said, “but we probably weren’t as active.”

You also figure Alford devoted a segment or six of practice to it.

“You could tell they practiced it,” said JJ O’Brien, a 6-7 forward who spent most of the night giving away five inches and 40 pounds to Kirk. “They did a good job of spacing, and Kirk didn’t bite on the stunts.”

Added Chase Tapley: “They put their bigs farther away from the guards so it made it farther to come on the stunts.”